14th After Trinity. Commitment
Preached at St Anne's Manchester
Luke 14 25-33

Here’s a sermon that doesn’t end.  You have to provide your own ending.   So, pay attention, please!
I’ve recently returned from India where I spent a few weeks living in a small village in the middle of no-where.
It was a wonderful experience by any standards and I’m still trying to process and understand what I saw.

One of the more remarkable and striking parts of the experience was that the village where I stayed was entirely Christian.
Every one of the 500 or so people was a practising Christian.
Each day began with the church bell ringing at 4 am – the village alarm clock.  Then 30 minutes of hymns over the village loudspeaker
At 5 am most of the village went to church for 40 minutes of worship – and a sermon – before going off to work at 6 am

At 7.45 pm each day they were back in church again for an hour or so of worship and another sermon.
On Sunday morning the church was overflowing for the 2.5 hr worship, eucharist and a 40 minute sermon.
The singing was loud and joyful and the prayers were long and fervent.   Not that I understood a word!

Moreover, each action was prefixed with prayer.
Prayer at the edge of the field            Prayer before beginning to cook
Prayer before starting the car, bike or bus
Prayer on the train in the middle of a journey as night fell

Faith pervades every aspect of daily life there; and there is no distinction between religion and the rest of life.
The reason for this is, no doubt, that it reflects the dominant Hindu culture as a whole.
Christian worship is like that, because that’s how Indian culture is.

It would be simplistic to say that their obvious commitment
means that they are necessarily any better disciples than we are….. Or does it?
After all the Indian church is growing and the Western church – the good old CofE – is declining rapidly…..

Does their commitment have anything to do with this?
Or is it that our commitment is expressed differently than theirs?
that Christian commitment takes – or needs to take – a different form in the UK:
More subtle – because our society is more complex?
Less obvious or fervent – because our English culture rather disdains expressive shows of religious faith?
Perhaps discipleship needs to take different forms in different cultures.
Yes – perhaps that’s it.

That’s why – when we listen to today’s reading from Luke’s gospel
and hear Jesus telling people that they’re not disciples if they don’t hate their mother, father, family…
or – in Matthew’s version –
that they’re ‘not worthy of Jesus’ if they love mother father or family more than him
we need to recognise the expression of a different cultural language and a different way of speaking.

Of course we can be disciples and still love our families.  (Rpt)
What Jesus means is – that we have to get our priorities right:
that, if we are Christians, we need to express our commitment to God and to Jesus faithfully and appropriately.
And that we ourselves need to decide what that balance is –
and what our commitment looks like; what shape and form it takes.

But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t regularly reassess what our commitment is;
Periodically rethink how we express our faith,
and what it means for us to be disciples of the living God.
Whether we’re just concerned with the state of our own souls – and nothing else, or
Whether coming to church is just about the music or the social contact, or
Whether our faith is expressed through a commitment to social justice in some form – as it needs to be…….

Last time I came to this church I was told off – by a member of the congregation who said – and I quote word for word –
‘If you come here again, please don’t preach the gospel. It upsets people.’ (Rpt)  

But what is a poor preacher to do?

Today’s gospel is all about commitment as Jesus tries to get his followers to see that there is a cost to discipleship,
Just like there’s a cost to being a practising Hindu, Muslim or Jew.

Today’s gospel is all about commitment –
But we could talk about the weather – or the price of fish – if that would be preferable?

Today’s gospel is all about commitment -
But I could say that it really doesn’t matter;
That Jesus was just having a bit of a moan……..  And, well – perhaps he was.

One of the things that most impressed me about my Christian friends in India
is that they live and work closely with their Hindu and Muslim colleagues and neighbours.
They talk to each other about their respective religions and often visit each others’ places of worship at significant festivals.
They’re not interested in converting each other
and so people come to see the best about each others’ faith.

There’s a naturalness and good humour about this openness about faith that is just wonderful to see.
Sure – tensions arise from time to time – religion matters, and people will always be people.
But there’s so much we could learn from them.

One of the things we’ve being doing at the university for 4 or 5 years now
is developing opportunities for people of different faiths to meet together:
eat together, enjoy each others’ company and share insights about God, the world and their faith.

We are gradually coming to learn that it’s OK to be people of faith – and people of different faith –
and that’s both something the university needs to learn – and something the rest of society needs too.
We are gradually coming to learn that our Christian discipleship, our commitment
doesn’t need to take the form of dramatic or noisy expressions of worship, or Bible thumping, or cunning attempts to convert people.
That talking naturally about our faith – and living its ordinary faithful routines
and finding ways to work together for justice here and abroad
is just what authentic discipleship means for us, where we are.   

Is that good news? Is that preaching the gospel?  Yes? – Then over to you.  Start talking together about what commitment & discipleship mean for you.      You have so much potential here; so much room to be outrageously creative.   Such opportunities.
So, when I come back next time…..

Terry Biddington

 

St Peter's Chaplaincy is a resource for exploring the life of faith. It seeks to be inclusive, open and welcoming, offering companionship on the Journey
Chaplaincy to Higher Education in Manchester		Manchester Metropolitan University University of Manchester Royal Northern College of Music
		St Peter's Church